Wednesday, November 30, 2016

The Iraqi forces were still fighting across eastern Mosul.
Zuhur was declared freed,
but a Rudaw correspondent said that when the day was over there were still clashes
going on there. This is the second time the area has been said to be liberated.
The Golden Division was also trying to clear Zahra that was freed on November 9
and then re-cleared on November
12. Hadbaa,
Falah, Barid, Nassir,
Mufti, Salam, Younis Sabawi, and Palestine were still being fought over, even
though Falah was liberated
two days before. In total, 41 neighborhoods have been entered in Mosul. 20 of
those appear to be secured, and 21 contested. Progress is obviously being made,
but it has been very difficult.

One of the major reasons why so many neighborhoods continuously
come under attack is the Islamic State’s tunnel system. Military officials told
Newsweek
that there were around 15 km of tunnels in the areas freed in east Mosul. They
estimated that there might be up to 70 km total of underground systems in that
half of the city. This network allows IS to constantly re-infiltrate areas and
attack the Iraqi forces from the rear.

On the other hand, IS’s defenses have been hindered. The
U.S. coalition has hit
the five bridges spanning Mosul. That has limited the group’s ability to move
between the two sides of the city, and its attempt to use boats and other means
to cross the Tigris River have been hampered by airstrikes. That has meant
there are fewer car bombs, and that its wounded cannot be evacuated.

Reuters also reported that the humanitarian situation in
eastern Mosul was declining. A major pipe was hit during the fighting cutting
off water to around 40% of the residents in that half of the city. There is
also a lack of electricity, food and other basic supplies. There have been
stories of shortages in the western side of Mosul as well. This is another
situation that is likely to continue to deteriorate

In the north and south things remain stalled. In the
southwest, southeast and north the Iraqi forces were still clearing buildings
and roads of IEDs. The Rapid Reaction Force did free
one town. There has been very little movement on these fronts overall. The 9th
and 16th Divisions, along with police units were supposed to be in
Mosul days ago, but have been stuck in the surrounding towns and made little
headway. Some of those forces are going to be diverted to take Tal Afar to the
west, others may be shifted around as well as there is a growing belief that the
campaign plan is going to be revised.

Speaking of Tal Afar the Hashd cleared
five new towns in that district. Two mass
graves of people executed by IS were also discovered in the area.

There have been other stories of abuses by both sides. The
United Nations said
that 12 civilians were shot by IS on November 11 for refusing to allow the
militants to use their houses in the fighting. The group executed another 27
people on charges that they were working with the government. Amnesty
International (AI) interviewed
residents of a few towns in the south and east who said the Hashd and tribal
fighters had humiliated, beaten, and tortured them for being suspected IS
members. In one town, the Hashd split the men from their families, made them
strip, and then bark like dogs, while they were called names. Tribal fighters
were also accused of looting, and some bragged to AI that they had blown up
houses.

There are some disagreements about how long the Mosul
campaign will take. Prime Minister Haidar Abadi was interviewed by the Associated
Press and told them he sticks by his promise that Mosul will be liberated
by the end of 2016. A growing number of military commanders say that is still
months away. General Najm Jabouri for instance thought
it could take six months to complete the operation.

Finally, displacement from Mosul has gone up again. On
November 29 the International Organization for Migration recorded
73,908 had been registered. The week before there were roughly 68,000
displaced. That went up to 73,000 by November 28. Since the Iraqi forces have
entered Mosul the number of displaced has more than doubled. As further areas
are penetrated those figures will continue to climb.

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

The Iraqi forces (ISF) reported more progress
on November 27. The Golden Division entered Barid and freed Falah, both new
neighborhoods in eastern Mosul.

In comparison, on November 28 the division was mostly
fighting over areas it had gone through before. Two
new neighborhoods were declared liberated, but one of them Qahira, had been
cleared before. There was also fighting in Qadisiya, Zuhur, and Salam all of which
were freed previously, along with Nassir, Mufti, Younis Sabawi, and Palestine.

There was little movement on the other fronts. The 9th
Division freed Kissar
to the southeast. The Federal Police in the southwest were still clearing
buildings and roads.

The slow progress in the north and south, and the heavy
fighting in the east is making the military re-think its plans for taking
Mosul. The Golden Division is just
3 km from the Tigris River, and has taken the brunt of the fighting. The 16th
Division is 10 km from Mosul in the north and has largely stopped advancing. It
did send a brigade to assist in eastern Mosul. Part of the 9th
Division is 2.5 km from south Mosul, while other elements of the division are
with the Golden Division inside the city. An officer in the 9th said that it
was nearly exhausted from all the fighting that it had gone through so far.
With two fronts stalled and mounting military and civilian casualties there is
lots of pressure to reconsider
the campaign plan. That has already happened
before. Originally, there were six separate thrusts towards Mosul. At the start
of November that was reduced to just three and the shifting of some forces
around. Similar modifications may be coming soon.

Reuters reported
that the Islamic State was arresting shop owners accused of raising their
prices. There have been several stories of major shortages affecting the city’s
population, and the militants appear to be afraid that may cause unrest, which
is leading to the new crackdown on businesses.

The Christian Science Monitor talked
with a few Christians who were displaced from Bartella, which was freed at the
start of the Mosul campaign. The Islamic State swept through the town in August
2014. One family said that they tried to escape to Kurdistan, but were stopped
at a checkpoint and imprisoned. There they were told to convert to Islam, and
when they eventually agreed they were let go. At the two prisons they were held
at they reported constant beatings and an execution. Another family was
tortured and beaten for not knowing their prayers and for not showing up often
enough to the mosque. Almost all of the Christians in the areas of Ninewa
seized by the Islamic State were driven off two years ago. Now their homes
areas are being liberated, and the big question will be how many are willing to
go back.

For some reason Reuters decided
to write an entire article based upon a conversation with Khamis Khanjar. He is
a Dubai based businessman who was one of the major financiers of the Iraqiya
party in 2010. Since then he has established his own list and hopes to become a
new Sunni leader in the provincial and parliamentary elections scheduled for
2017 and 2018 respectively. Khanjar warned that if the Hashd were to entire
Mosul they could massacre and abuse the populace. He then said that the
Nujafi’s Hashd al-Watani and the army should be leading the campaign. So far
the Hashd are far away from Mosul in the west, surrounding the town of Tal
Afar. The Hashd al-Watani on the other hand have done little, and will likely
be kept out of the fight because of the Nujafis bad relations with Baghdad and
their ties to Turkey, which has been deeply critical and confrontational during
the entire operation.

Finally the number of displaced took another jump. For
several days the displaced however around 68,000,
but that went up to 75,720
according to the United Nations’ High Commissioner for Refugees. Almost all of
those, roughly 72,000 are from the Mosul district. The U.N. said more people
are fleeing the city itself with some 4,000 leaving just on November 24. 2,031
Iraqis also fled to Syria since the start of the campaign. After these people
reach the Iraqi forces they have to be vetted. There are lots of complaints
about how long civilians can be held before they are cleared or arrested, along
with lots of accusations of false claims about family members being IS members
or sympathizers. This must be done, but the sheer size of the task is daunting
along with the inconsistencies of the process means it will always be long and
imperfect.

Monday, November 28, 2016

Five not four neighborhoods in eastern Mosul were freed on
November 25. That makes a total of 39 areas entered in the city with 19 freed,
and 20 still contested.

Progress
in Eastern Mosul Neighborhoods

Total Entered: 39

Freed: 19

Still Fighting: 20

On November 27 the Iraqi forces were mostly consolidating
their positions, while the Hashd were still busy around Tal Afar. The latter freed two more towns
west of Mosul. The Federal Police in the southwest were clearing IEDs. The 9th
Division was still fighting over five neighborhoods in eastern Mosul, and the
Golden Division several others. The 16th Division in the north was
also clearing towns it had liberated.

Martin Chulov of the Guardian
talked with people who had returned to Gojali in eastern Mosul. One man said
there was no power or water in his home, but he was still trying to push
forward. Another person talked about how they were expecting the worse form the
Iraqi forces, but they had not acted badly, and now they were accepted. Several
small businesses were trying to re-open although supplies were sometimes
sparse. At the same time, the neighborhood came under gun and mortar fire while
Chulov was there showing that it was not completely safe yet.

Sunday, November 27, 2016

More information became available about events that occurred
on November 25. The Golden Division attacked the Amin
neighborhood, while both Qahira and Masarif were freed.

On November 26, there was fighting
in the Bakr, Zuhur, Intisar, Judaydat al-Mufti, Salam, Younis Sabawi, and
Palestine areas of the city. That was a perfect example of the back and forth
battle for the city. Judaydat al-Mufti was originally attacked on November
1, Younis Sabawi on November
11, and Palestine on November
13. Salam and Zuhur have been liberated once each, and Bakr and Intisar
have been freed twice. So far the Golden Division and 9th Division
have entered 38 neighborhoods of eastern Mosul. 22 of those appear to still be
contested, while 16 have been secured. As the events above show however, many
of those areas declared freed often get re-infiltrated by the Islamic State.

Progress in Eastern
Mosul Neighborhoods

Total Entered: 38

Freed: 16

Still Fighting: 22

On other fronts, the Hashd and Iraqi forces continued to move
forward as well. The Hashd went through six towns in the west, and elements of
the 9th Division freed one more in the southeast. Elements of the 15th
Division and the Ninewa Federal police will have the task of taking on Tal Afar
itself.
On the other hand, based upon their own statements the Iraqi forces are two
weeks behind reaching Mosul itself from the north and south. The Golden
Division was the first to reach the city. Instead of waiting for the other
units to catch up it moved forward opening itself to attacks from the flanks
and rear. Eventually, units from the 9th Division and a separate
brigade were shifted to eastern Mosul as well as they were stuck in towns in
the south. Two weeks ago the rest of the 9th Division said it would
be attacking Mosul airport, and the 15th Division Hadbaa
neighborhood in the north. While the Golden Division was always going to take
on the bulk of the fighting the push into the north and south was supposed to
spread out the Islamic State’s forces. Instead it has been able to focus upon
the east. There have been no new timetables released for when the 9th
and 15th are supposed to reach their original targets in Mosul.

Finally, the United Nations’ World Health Organization gave
another glimpse into the casualties being generated by the on going campaign.
It said
that 1,200 civilians had been treated for injuries since the start of the Mosul
operation on October 17. Since the government is censoring its losses these
types of stories can only hint at what is really going on. They show that a
huge amount of people have been killed and wounded, with only about a third of
Mosul having been entered.

Saturday, November 26, 2016

There were more advances in Mosul and around Tal Afar. The
Golden Division attacked
three areas of eastern Mosul. One, Qahira, was originally entered on November 20,
while the other two neighborhoods were brand new. In the west, the Hashd
liberated four more towns.
Baghdad was putting
together units from the army and Federal Police to take Tal Afar. Originally,
the Hashd said they would seize the town, but a deal was made to have the
security forces do it instead to assuage Turkey and Turkmen that had objected,
claiming that the Hashd would set off sectarian tensions.

The government was considering changing its stance towards
taking Mosul, while the Islamic State cut off services. Originally Baghdad
dropped flyers over the city telling the residents to stay in their homes. That
was because the authorities and non-governmental organizations had nothing in
place to accommodate large amounts of people fleeing the city. Now, those
citizens are hindering the battle to seize Mosul. The Iraqi forces (ISF) have complained
that they cannot use artillery and air strikes as much as they would like out
of fear of causing civilian casualties. Now the ISF is advocating for calling
on the populace to leave the battlezone. On the other side, a member of the
Ninewa council reported
that the Islamic State cut off water to the neighborhoods liberated in eastern
Mosul.

Friday, November 25, 2016

The 9th and Golden Divisions were still churning
through eastern Mosul. On November
24 the Zuhur and Kadrah neighborhoods were freed. Zuhur was originally
attacked on November
20, while this was the fifth time Kadrah was declared liberated. Some of
the division was also being taken off the line and replaced with a
new battalion. The Iraqi forces have issued no casualties, but the unit has
faced the brunt of the fighting in Mosul and likely has taken a lot of losses.

So far the Iraqi forces have reached 36 neighborhoods in
eastern Mosul. Of those, 7 have been freed and appear to be under control. 17
have been liberated multiple times and look like they are still contested. 12
have been attacked at least once.

The U.S.-led Coalition finished off Mosul’s bridges. The
city is bisected by the Tigris River, which has five spans across it. The last
bridge was blown
up in an air strike.

The New York Times ran a piece
about how the civilians in Mosul are complicating the battle. The government
dropped leaflets telling people to stay in their homes. There was no real
choice in that matter as the government and aid agencies had no way to take
care of the population if it did try to leave. The article also mentioned that
the military planners did not want to level the city as happened in Ramadi. Those
residents are now a major impediment to the fight. The Iraqi forces can’t use
their artillery and air strikes as much as they want out of fear of collateral
damage, and the Islamic State is also using civilians as human shields and to
re-infiltrate areas.

In the west the Iraqi forces rather than the Hashd will take
Tal Afar. A spokesman for Asaib Ahl Al-Haq said that the Hashd was
ready to take the town, but another spokesman added that was not possible for political reasons. Besides
Turkey, which has been very vociferous on the issue, the Iraqi Turkmen Front
also stated that
the Hashd should stay out of Tal Afar because they would set off sectarian
tensions. That issue should now be resolved as the army is to move
in.

Kurdish President Massoud Barzani commented on
the disputed areas in Ninewa once again. All the territory taken by the
Peshmerga before the Mosul campaign would remain under Kurdish control he said,
but the area liberated since then by the Kurds would be up for negotiation. The
U.S. helped negotiate a deal between Baghdad and Irbil so that they would
cooperate in the offensive, which included the Kurds giving up any land they
took. Since then Barzani and other Kurds have said they would keep everything,
but now the president is trying to back down from those statements.

Finally, the number of displaced has leveled off. The
International Organization for Migration reported
that from November 20-24 68,000 have left their homes and registered with the
authorities. On November 19 there were 61,674 displaced. That went up to 68,520
on November 20, and has stayed around that level since then with 68,660 on
November 21, 68,112 on November 22, 68,340 on November 23, and 68,964 on
November 24. Another 7,116 people have gone back to their homes in areas that
have been liberated.

Thursday, November 24, 2016

There were no new advances announced in eastern Mosul on
November 23, 2016. The Golden and 9th Divisions were still fighting
over some of the newer neighborhoods it entered into over the last few weeks. Qahira was attacked,
which was initially entered on November 20.
There was also continued fighting
in Mufti, Salam, Sabawi Younis, Palestine and Nassir. Younis Sabawi was
originally attacked on November
11, Palestine on November
13, and Nassir and Mufti on November
17. In the more secure areas, the Golden Division was also trying to
dismantle IEDs. A general from the unit told
the press that the Islamic State was weakening, but that wasn’t apparent from
the news.

A few casualties from the city were reported. 6 civilians
were killed and 30 wounded by Islamic State mortar
fire, and a sniper
killed two more. The day before IS was said to have beheaded
15 soldiers it captured. CNN
talked with a Peshmerga commander, U.N. and health officials that hospitals in
Irbil were receiving up to 80-90 casualties per day, mostly civilians.
Authorities said that the health centers in the city were being overwhelmed by
the amount of people arriving finding it difficult to find enough beds and
medicines for them.

To the west the Hashd cut the road
from Mosul to Sinjar and onto Syria. It still had not encircled Tal Afar, but
the ensuing battle for it was leading almost all of the families that resided
there to flee.
Around 3,000 were said to have left with half heading towards Syria and the others
going towards Kurdish held areas.

In the southeast the 9th Division freed several
more towns
including Qara Tapa.

Finally, air strikes took out a member of the IS leadership
and another bridge in Mosul. There are five bridges that cross the Tigris
River. A fourth
one was hit by the U.S. led Coalition. The Americans are hoping to limit the
ability of the militants to travel across the city. An air strike was also believed
to have killed the Islamic State’s Minister of Information for Ninewa Ziyad
Kharufa.

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

The Golden Division reached one more sector of eastern
Mosul, but was mostly trying to clear what it already gained. Zuhur was the
newest neighborhood breached by the elite division. Otherwise the unit was
trying to consolidate its areas, which have seen constant fighting since the
city was reached on October 31.

The Hashd were still trying to encircle
Tal Afar to the west. In the process it freed
five newvillages. When
the forces do reach the town, it is likely to set off another round of threats
from Turkey that has warned that it does not want the Hashd to take the
village.

Iraq
Oil Report received news that the water in the western half of the city has
been shut off. There have also been stories of food shortages and the lack of
other basic necessities.

Finally, the number of displaced has leveled off in the last
few days. When Mosul was reached on October 31, there were 17,748
displaced registered with aid groups. When the Iraqi forces pushed farther
into the city that number skyrocketed to 61,674 by November 11, and then 68,520
on November 20. By November 22 that figure had slightly dropped to 68,112. Of
that total, 59,208 or 86.9% are from Mosul, and 98% are residing in Ninewa
province. Still, only a small fraction of Mosul has been reached so far. As the
Iraqi forces push farther in, more people are likely to flee.

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Two new areas of eastern Mosul were freed. The 9th
Division was able to clear
Salam and Abbas in the northeast of the city. Salam was originally attacked on November
11, while Abbas was just reached. The Golden Division was trying to secure
the neighborhoods it had already reached, conducting house-to-house searches. Together
the two units have entered 36 areas of eastern Mosul. Almost all of them remain
contested however as the Islamic State has been able to re-infiltrate and
counter attack in nearly all of them.

This Rudaw Map shows areas that the Golden and 9th Divisions have entered in eastern Mosul. Red is for secured, Pink is contested. Many of the Red areas however are still witnessing fighting.

The U.S.-led Coalition took out one of the major bridges in
Mosul. The Tigris River bisects the city, and there are five major spans across
it. The Coalition has now knocked out three trying to limit the ability of the
Islamic State to traverse the Mosul.

The Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) made progress in the north
and south as well. The 9th Division freed five towns
in the south, and the 16th Division coming down from the north
liberated three
more. Both forces were talking about reaching Mosul itself last week, but
didn’t. When they do they will help take the pressure off the Golden Division
and elements of the 9th, which are facing the brunt of the heavy
urban fighting within the city.

The authorities have not been releasing their losses as
usual, but the United Nations’ World Health Organization (WHO) did provide a
small sample. From October 18 to November 12 it recorded
379 people, 59 civilians and 320 military personnel going to Irbil for
treatment.

Finally, there was still blowback from some parties in
Baghdad against comments made by Kurdish President Massoud Barzani. On November
14, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Douglas Silliman mentioned that Kurdistan had
agreed to withdraw from all the territory that it liberated during the campaign
as part of a deal Washington helped negotiate between Baghdad and Irbil. Two
days later, Barzani said
that the Kurds had no intention of leaving any Kurdish areas. The prime
minister’s office reminded
Barzani that their agreement was still in effect, and then Barzani replied that
his statements were not translated correctly, and that Irbil would honor the
deal. Later, comments by a member of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq were posted on social media
saying that the army and Hashd could take the ground from the Peshmerga.
Barzani’s office hoped those remarks were not true, but also went on to say
that Baghdad had tried using force of arms against Kurdistan many times, but
had always failed. During the war with the Islamic State, the Kurds have been
able to occupy almost all of the disputed territories they claim as
historically theirs. The status of those areas will have to be negotiated after
Mosul is freed. Barzani is such an unpopular figure however, that whenever he
talks about them he just inflames the situation.

Monday, November 21, 2016

More news came out on the advances in Mosul from November
19. Moalimin,
Bakr and Aden were declared freed
for the second and third times respectively, while Muharabeen
and Ulama were attacked.

On November 20 Akhaa,
for the second time, and Khazir were
liberated, while Bakr,
Zahabiya, Qadisiyah, Tahrir and Wala were being swept for IEDs. There was still
fighting going on in Intisar, which
was first freed on November
1, and Aden that was called liberated the day before, and Qahira and Zuhur
were also attacked. Almost all of the areas that the Iraqi forces (ISF) have
entered remain contested. The Islamic State has been able to re-infiltrate
areas again and again usually through the extensive tunnel system it built
underneath the city.

In the southwest the Hashd was consolidating its position at
the Tal Afar airport. A parliamentarian claimed
that there was a deal between Iraq and Turkey, negotiated by the United States,
to keep the Hashd out of Tal Afar itself. A spokesman for Turkish President
Recep Erdogan called on Baghdad to abide by this agreement. The Hashd have
talked about taking Tal Afar since it joined the operation, so it is unclear as
of now whether such an Iraq-Turkey understanding exists or not.

The Golden Division made more progress in eastern Mosul,
while the Islamic State was counter attacking. The Moalimin
neighborhood was freed, while Muharabeen
and Ulama were attacked. There was still fighting going on
in Tahrir and Qadisiya, which were cleared before. General Abdul Wahab al-Saddi
of the division said
that 10 of the 50 neighborhoods in the eastern half of Mosul were under
control. With IS re-infiltration however, many of those like Qadisiyah, appear
to still be contested. Reuters
also reported that around 200 civilians and members of the security forces had
been sent to the hospital over the last week, another sign of the heavy toll
the campaign is taking on those involved.

In the south the army was still clearing villages. Two more were
freed, and the 9th Division declared all of Nimrod district liberated.

The Hashd were still working on the Tal Afar airport area in
the southwest before making an assault on the town of the same name. The Hashd
said that all of the airport was secured
and three villages in the area
were freed.

The Islamic State carried out a surprise attack on Imam
Gharbi, which is south of Mosul. It held the town for several hours before
air strikes and the Iraqi forces drove them out.

Buzz
Feed spent some time with a Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) team in
Mosul. The teams work with the U.S. led Coalition to call in air strikes.
Usually an American accompanies them, but the one that the journalists visited
was operating on its own, although a French intelligence officer was present.
That day, they were working with 2 Apaches helicopters, a drone, and fighter
jets. Their main job was trying to destroy car bombs before they hit the Iraqi
forces (ISF). Two major problems were the speed with which some of the vehicle
borne improvised explosive devices came in they could not be struck, and the
other was the amount of civilians, which sometimes meant air strikes had to be
called off to stop any collateral damage.

Finally, the Associated
Press witnessed the re-opening of a church in Bashiqa. The cross on top of
the building, which the Islamic State had taken down was replaced, the church
bells rung, and a service held. Unfortunately most of the town was completely
destroyed in the fighting making this event just one of many that will be
needed to restore life.

Saturday, November 19, 2016

Iraq’s next elections
in April 2017 are for provincial councils, although they could be delayed until
the next year because of the war. So far the main talk about the vote is to
change the election law to favor the large parties to ensure their domination of
the local governments.

There are two efforts underway to change the voting process
to favor the big lists. One is to reduce
the number of seats on each provincial council. Parties want to recalculate how
many seats would be up for election based upon the population. One
parliamentarian said that each province would start with 11 seats and then gain
1 more for every 250,000 residents. The second project is to change
how votes are counted. In the previous two elections Iraq used the Sainte-Lague
system that helped small parties gain office. Politicians are now calling
for a new process to be used. In both cases, the large lists are trying to make
it more difficult for the small ones to gain council seats.

The major parties have complained that after the 2009
provincial vote the ruling alliances proved too difficult to manage with so
many parties involved. They now want to try to eliminate that possibility by
changing the system so that large parties like State of Law, Kurdistan
Democratic Party, Mutahidun, etc. would get most of the seats. There are
positives and negatives to limiting the number of victors. The fewer actors
involved would theoretically make deal making and compromise easier. On the
other hand, the ruling parties are largely seen as corrupt and political
failures. Bringing in new parties could start the process of either making the
older lists change or be superseded. What happened after the last local elections
was that the smaller lists offered opportunities for new alliances. Iraq is
still a young democracy so it is still in the process of developing its party
politics so attempts at change and consolidation can be expected in the future.

SOURCES

Buratha News, “The political blocs are going to reduce the number of
provincial seats in the upcoming elections,” 8/3/16

About Me

Musings On Iraq was started in 2008 to explain the political, economic, security and cultural situation in Iraq via original articles and interviews. I have written for the Jamestown Foundation, Tom Ricks’ Best Defense at Foreign Policy and the Daily Beast, and was responsible for a chapter in the book Volatile Landscape: Iraq And Its Insurgent Movements. My work has been published in Iraq via NRT, AK News, Al-Mada, Sotaliraq, All Iraq News, and Ur News all in Iraq. I was interviewed on BBC Radio 5, Radio Sputnik, CCTV and TRT World News TV, and have appeared in CNN, the Christian Science Monitor, The National, Columbia Journalism Review, Mother Jones, PBS’ Frontline, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Institute for the Study of War, Radio Free Iraq, Rudaw, and others. I have also been cited in Iraq From war To A New Authoritarianism by Toby Dodge, Imagining the Nation Nationalism, Sectarianism and Socio-Political Conflict in Iraq by Harith al-Qarawee, ISIS Inside the Army of Terror by Michael Weiss and Hassan Hassahn, The Rise of the Islamic State by Patrick Cocburn, and others. If you wish to contact me personally my email is: motown67@aol.com